Smith one of three vying for QB job
RADNOR >> Back in the spring, there were plenty of seats available during meetings in the quarterback room at Villanova.
Redshirt junior Jack Schetelich, redshirt freshman Qadir Ismail and junior JJ Scarpello were the only ones in the room.
With the addition of grad transfers Daniel Smith (Campbell University) and JP Petricca (Howard), and freshmen Connor Watkins (Loyalsock Twp.) and Matt O’Connor (Lower Merion), the QB room in the Talley Athletic Center has gotten a little crowded.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Schetelich said after practice Wednesday.
“It’s a big difference, reps wise and in the meeting room,” Ismail added.
The sudden influx of quarterbacks has created an interesting battle for the starting job as the Wildcats head into their season opener at Colgate Saturday afternoon (Noon, CBSSN). It’s not uncommon to see two players listed as the starter on the depth chart, especially this early in the season.
Villanova has three listed as potential starters for Saturday: Smith, Schetelich and Ismail. It’s the fiercest competition at the position since John Robertson edged Chris Polony for the starting nod back in 2012.
“The competition at the quarterback position has been uplifting, to say the least,” said Mark Ferrante, who is in his third year as the head coach after 30 years as an assistant. “It’s been really good. From one practice to the next it’s been one guy stepping up and moving the team.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had this much depth, and this much quality of depth, at the position. And we’ve never had this many people at the position, and it’s made everybody better. I’m excited to see what happens Saturday. Going with Dan or Jack, and Qadir’s right there, too, so to have three guys that you’re comfortable with putting in the game gives me a pretty good feeling.”
On paper, Smith would appear to be the odds-on favorite to win the job. The 6-0, 205-pounder has quite the impressive resume. Smith was a finalist for the 2017 Jerry Rice Award, given annually to the top freshman in the Football Championship Subdivision. He was the offensive Rookie of the Year in the Pioneer Football League and was named to the 2018 preseason Walter Payton Award watch list as the top player in the FCS.
In two seasons at Campbell, Smith went 13-7 as the starting quarterback and set the program records for passing yards (3,471), rushing yards (1,940), total offense (5,411), passing touchdowns (31) and rushing touchdown (25). Like Petricca, Smith has two years of eligibility.
Smith has a bachelor’s degree in Trust and Wealth Management and is working on a master’s degree in Business Administration with a specialty in analytics.
Schetelich has experience, too, as does Ismail. Schetelich has played in 12 games in two seasons with six starts. He has thrown for 612 yards and two touchdowns at Villanova. The 6-7 Ismail, played in three games last season with one start and threw for 180 yards and one score, not enough to lose his redshirt status, though.
Yet while the competition for the starting job has been fierce, the discourse in the locker room has been civil.
“We’re all super close,” Smith said. “We’re all good friends. It’s a great group of guys. It could have been a lot different as a transfer coming in. They could have been like, ‘I don’t know about that guy,’ but they’ve taken me in like a brother. It’s been nice.”
“We have a pretty tight quarterback room,” Schetelich said. “We don’t have anyone that’s full of themselves so it’s nice to be with these guys. It’s constant competition. We’re always pushing each other. In the spring we had two others and now there’s six others that you’re competing against. It’s definitely upped the competition in that room.”
“It’s a healthy competition,” Ismail said. “There’s no beef between any of us. We all have a good relationship.”
One thing they have in common is learning a new system together. Ferrante hired Wildcat great Chris Boden as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach when Sam Venuto retired following the 2018 season.
“If we didn’t have the coaching change with Boden and had the same terminology, Jack and Qadir may have been a little further along,” Ferrante said. “But they’re all kind of at the same starting point so it balanced things out.”
“Football’s football so as long as you lock in and work hard, no matter what you do, it doesn’t take too long to get up to speed,” Smith said. “I’ve had so much help from Jack and JJ. They’ve been great. We go watch film together. We’ve been constantly helping each other outside of the meeting times. Without them I would not have caught up as fast as I have.”
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NOTES >> The Wildcats and Raiders kick off the 150th season of college football. All teams will wear patches to commemorate the monumental year. … Villanova is coming off its second straight 5-6 season. Colgate went
10-2 last year and lost to eventual national champion North Dakota State in the FCS quarterfinals . ... The Wildcats lead the series, 4-1, and have won the last four meetings.